


Warming Up Next To A Blue Flame

by LunaMotou



Category: Undertale
Genre: Alphys is a shipper, Angst, F/F, F/M, FLUFF EVENTUALLY, Gender-Neutral Frisk, Grillby is your first friend, Human racism, Humans can be such jerks, M/M, More tags will be added later, Papyrus is a precious cinnamon bun, Papyrus' Cooking Is A Skele-Ton Better, Post-Pacifist Route, Reader Almost Gets Raped (Chapter 2 and 3), Reader Gets Mugged, Reader Is Not Frisk, Reader has had lots of bad times, Reader is also poor, Reader is homeless, Reader-Insert, Sans is Very Punny, Sans is a jerk at first, Slow Burn, So you've had a bad life, Strong Language, Undyne is well Undyne, monster racism, offensive language, rating may change in the future, reader has had suicidal thoughts, reader is female, things will get better for them eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-18
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2018-08-09 12:25:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7801789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaMotou/pseuds/LunaMotou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You have had a shitty life.  You became homeless at a young age, you are an orphan, and you are dirt poor.  Could life get any worse for you?  Oh its also the beginning of Winter.  So you are so not ready for that.  Anyways you make your living begging on the streets and if you are stealthy enough you risk pick-pocketing someone.  Oh did I also mention that you have no friends either?   Yeah, you are lonely, shy, and slightly depressed.  But wait, a skeleton and his friends are willing to become your friends and help you out of this hell hole you're in?  Could this be a dream come true or will this turn out to be another one of your nightmares?  Takes place 2 years after Monsters emerge from the Underground.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bitter Cold with Some Warmth

**Author's Note:**

> Woo! My first story on AO3! I know this might seem like a short chapter but the real fun begins in chapter 2 so this was just supposed to give you some background on your character and how they live. I hope you guys enjoy :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'thinking'  
> "talking"  
> Y/N: Your Name

Cold.

So very cold.

This is what you felt as you sat and blew air into your hands to keep yourself as warm as you possibly could. It was the middle of October and while that was supposed be a cold and rainy month, this year however, Mother Nature decided to let Jack Frost visit early and allowed him to stay in the city beneath Mt. Ebott. It was the end of the day and it was turning darker as well as colder, so you decided to head home. While you were on this trek back, you reflected on your life thus far. For starters you were poor. Dirt freaking poor. You were reminded of this as you felt your stomach growl hungrily, demanding to be filled. You sigh as you pat it to try and silence its growls. Embarrassed as a few passerbys looked at you, hearing your empty stomach argue with you. You duck your head down and continue walking. As you walk you go over the map you had in your head to get you back to your home.

‘Left here.’

‘Right next.’

‘Straight down two blocks.’

‘Count to 3 and turn right.’

Sure enough, you turn into the alleyway that you have deemed your ‘home.’ More specifically you walk over to a cardboard box that was pressed up against a building. It was a dishwasher box and it was enough for you to, at least, be somewhat comfortable in. You crawled to the back of the box and curled up against the back of it. The building that the box was up against was home to a popular restaurant/bar called ‘Grillby’s.’ The building seemed to radiate with warmth and for a good reason. Grillby, the owner of said establishment, was a fire monster. Yup. A fire monster. Turns out that monsters lived underneath the mountain for thousands of years and 2 years ago they emerged from the underground all thanks to a child named Frisk, who was elected as monsterkind’s ambassador. What were you thinking about again? It was hard to think since you were so tired. You were cold, and you curled up into a ball as you huddled closer the warmth that radiated from the building on the other side of your box. You yawn before closing your eyes, and completely succumbing to the darkness of slumber.

Darkness.

Silent darkness.

Could this be a dreamless sleep? You won’t have to deal with nightmares tonight? Of course though, the universe was not on your side. You suddenly hear someone sobbing. You turn and tense seeing your mother crying over your father as he lay in a hospital bed with machines and IV’s hooked up to him. Against your will, your eyes look up at the heart monitor and see it flat line.

No.

Not this dream!

You know what to expect next and you dread it. You turn around again and find a door in front of you. ‘Please don’t open this door!’ You cry out mentally, but your body doesn’t seem to obey you. Your hand finds the door handle and turn it before pushing inside. You are met with a sight that still haunts you to this very day. You find your mother, with a noose tied around her neck and a chair tipped over underneath her. She is as still as death. You move closer and find a note pinned to her shirt addressed to you. It only had two words.

**‘I’m Sorry.’**

You cry. You cry so hard. It’s not fair! Why?! Why did she do this?! You’re all alone now! WHY?! You look down as you feel a stinging sensation on your wrists. You find yourself holding a knife and there are slash marks on your wrists with blood oozing out of the wounds. The knife was stained red with your blood and yet you can see your reflection in the steel of the blade. You see yourself grinning and a distorted voice whispers in your ear.

**“tHiS Is aLl yOuR FauLT!”**

You bolt awake, panting like you’ve just finished running a marathon. That dream—no that nightmare—always gave you chills. You felt your sins crawling on your back because you truly believed that it was your fault for all this to happen. It was your fault for being in the situation that you were now in. You never tried to actually get a job more than a few times. You never tried to get help from people. It was all pointless anyway. Why involve outsiders into problems that aren’t even their problems? Its rude and very inconsiderate. You were fine. You can bear the weight of your sins and problems alone.

You had a brief thought about going back to your previous line of work before you squashed that thought hard, with a sledgehammer. No way would you go back to doing that! You…you weren’t that desperate. You shivered again and looked down at yourself. You were dressed in a light brown jacket with a black t-shirt on underneath. Your lower half was equipped with dirty tattered jeans and holey tennis shoes with no socks on. Definitely not the type of clothing to be worn in the winter but this was the best you could do. To say you were dirty was an understatement. You were filthy and you probably smelled as bad as you looked.  
It’s not like the homeless were allowed to go down to the beach and bathe in the waters to cleanse themselves of the dirt and grime that stuck to them as they scavenged through dumpsters and garbage cans for scraps of clothes and food. Yup. You were reduced to starving or eating garbage. Though sometimes you got lucky. You were able to get some money from people off the streets and go into Grillby’s and get a hamburger. Oh how you craved his hamburgers. So juicy and well done. Though you recall your first time walking in there. What a mess and embarrassment you must have looked like.

Flashback

You entered the bar excitedly; not only were you able to get out of the cold for a few moments, but you were actually fortunate enough to get enough money to buy some food. Albeit greasy, but food. You hadn’t eaten in a week and your mouth watered at the delicious smells that assaulted your nose as you walked in. There were a couple monsters in the restaurant, but not many since it was close to closing time. There was an orangey-yellow rabbit with spiral eyes or was it just drunk as it sat in a booth by the door. There was also a very scary looking plant…thing with razor sharp teeth. Yeah you don’t make eye contact with that thing. The last monster, aside from Grillby, was a grey horse with a blonde mane and dressed in a black jogging suit? You gulped as you felt their judgmental stares burn holes into you as you slowly made your way up to the bar. You had just sat down and was waiting for Grillby to come out from the back until you heard them.

“What’s a human doing here?”

“Ugh! She reeks!”

“She must be here to try and haggle poor Grillby for some free food.”

“Fucking humans. I hate them.”

You had tilted your head down as you heard their words, and they crushed you. How could they pass judgement on you like that? They had no idea what you went through! They probably went home to a nice warm house, were greeted by a kind group of friends and family, ate delicious meals, and went to bed on a nice soft bed each and every night. You felt tears of anger and jealousy fill your eyes and you moved to wipe them away, until you heard a soft voice speaking to you.

“Are you alright miss?” The voice asked, making you snap your head up in surprise. It turned out to be the owner himself, Grillby. He had no mouth and you wondered how he could speak. He wore what looked like glasses and dressed almost like an old bartender from the 1800s. How did his clothes not catch on fire? You tense realizing you’re still crying and you hastily wipe the tears away before standing.

“S-Sorry, but I-I’ve lost my appetite,” you lied and quickly left the establishment.

It was so unfair. You leaned against the side of the building as you collected your thoughts and wiped the rest of your tears away. You weren’t allowed to eat and relax in the warmth of the building like anyone else? All because you were human? You wince as you realize that humans did the same to other humans. Wow. That really was sad.

As you were starting to make your leave, you felt a warm hand on your shoulder. You gasped in surprise because that warmth seemed to spread over your whole body and gave you some energy. You look to see it was Grillby and he was the one holding your shoulder. Your thoughts were split between nervousness and awe. How was he able to touch you and not burn you? Was he mad that you insulted him and his food? You really hoped not.

“Why did you leave?” he asked softly. His voice was soft and warm like a small campfire.

“I-I…I wasn’t hungry,” you tried to lie only for him to look at you with a disbelieving look, making you feel twice as bad as you felt before.

“I…wasn’t welcomed,” you say quietly and look down.

“Everyone is welcome in my bar. Come,” he said and motioned for you to follow.

Grillby, instead of walking back into the front of the building, walked around back and let you inside. He made you a hamburger and some french fries to go with it. Oh how good the food smelled on the grill and in the fryers. You thanked him when he handed you the food and you happily ate it all. You thought that Grillby was looking at you in surprise based on how quickly you ate the food but you hardly paid attention to him. You were more eager to fill your empty stomach, and as quickly as possible too. Oh how good it all tasted, like it was made with magic. You were hooked on Grillby’s food and all other hamburger joints in town were now second rate compared to Grillby’s.

“Thank you,” you say sincerely and pull out the money you intended to use to pay for the meal.

“No, it’s on the house,” he said, refusing to accept your money. It was obvious that you were poor and possibly homeless.

“B-but--,” you tried to argue, only for him to wave it off.

End Flashback

That was the first act of kindness you’ve had in a very long time. Grillby told you that if you were ever uncomfortable coming in through the front (which you still were) to go to the back door and knock 4 times. You kept this information close to your heart. On occasion you would just go in the back and sit in the warm kitchen, not eating anything or accepting any of Grillby’s offers since he was already being so kind to you. He even offered to have you open a tab with him so you could come and eat whenever you liked. As tempting as this was, and it really was tempting, you denied the kind offer since you couldn’t do that to Grillby. He would never get his money back.

You walked towards your first spot where you could try and beg for some money from people. It was about 5 am and people would be on their way to work soon so might as well be ready for them. You sat down, set a plastic cup in front of you, so people knew where to put the money, and waited.


	2. Altercations and Healing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this chapter while I was on vacation. I had a lot of fun writing it and I hope you all like it as well :) 
> 
> WARNING! This chapter contains harsh language and suggestive themes. You have been warned. 
> 
> Enjoy the chapter! :)
> 
> 'thinking'  
> "talking"  
> Y/N: Your Name

You were walking back to your alley feeling pretty upset. Let’s recap shall we? It’s about 4 in the afternoon, and your day was more crappy than usual. You got jack shit for money, people were shit to you, but this time you have bruises forming on different parts of your body.

Wait, am I going too fast for you? Let’s start from the beginning.

You were at your first spot where you panhandled for money from 5am-10am. In that five-hour timespan, you got exactly 5 cents, a crumpled receipt, and a piece of gum. Aside from the tangible objects you received, you also got some pretty annoyed stares when you begged for money. You didn’t have a sign that read ‘homeless please help. God bless you,’ or anything like that. You see, you weren’t fortunate enough to find a usable marker or pen in the garbage. So you had to go without a sign. You had to sit on your butt, on the hard and cold concrete, trying to keep yourself warm by curling into a ball and give passerby’s a look that begged them to help you with ANYTHING they were willing to give. Hell, if you got a penny, like you did 2 days ago from a little kid, that would make you happy. You were one cent richer than you were just a few moments prior.

Anyways, you knew you had to leave that spot before 10am, why? Because that’s when police cars would patrol the area, and officers would walk around and keep an eye out for panhandlers like you. You’ve had an unfortunate encounter here and there with the law, and they weren’t very fond memories. Sometimes an officer would take pity on ‘your kind,’ and turn the other cheek, pretending they never saw you. Other times an officer would stop and give ‘your kind’ some food or something to drink. You’ve seen that happen to so many others, and you are still so amazed by the kindness other humans and monsters had for those less fortunate than themselves. You on the other hand, have never had that kind of luck. There was an officer, the captain no less, named Undyne, and she was a force to be reckoned with. She was a tall blue fish monstress with long red hair tied up in a ponytail, she had piercing yellow eyes and matching sharp teeth. Though you noticed the eyepatch covering one of her eyes, but that just made her all the more intimidating. She was immensely strong, and she had this power to summon glowing blue spears, lots of them at one time, and hurl them at someone to stop them from running away.

Undyne had it out for you. She did not like you and you were terrified of her. Ever since monsters emerged from the underground 2 years ago, slowly monsters have been able to have laws passed that allow them to be integrated into human society, albeit slowly sometimes from what you read in thrown out newspapers, and that also included jobs. Before monsters were freed, the police were fairly lax with their patrols and didn’t care much if they saw a panhandler or not. Heck some of them weren’t fit enough to catch someone if they ran. After monsters emerged and Undyne joined the police force, she changed everything very quickly. In about 6 months she was able to attain status as Captain, but even though she wasn’t required to go out on patrol anymore, she still wanted to. She trained the other humans, and the few other monsters that joined not long after her, to be faster, more aware of their surroundings, and, at times, harsher with how they dealt with people like you. She upheld the law so well that it was surprising the CIA or FBI didn’t want her to join them.

You had met Undyne unfortunately at the worst time. It was about a year ago, just after she was announced Captain of the Police in Ebott City. You were starving, you hadn’t eaten in about a week and you couldn’t stand it anymore. You weren’t able to find anything in the garbage that was edible so you had resorted to pick pocketing someone. You had successfully pickpocketed a business man as he was walking by, and you hated to do this, since he probably needed the money to feed his family, but you had a rule where you would only take cash, never credit cards. Once you emptied the wallet of cash, you would return the wallet to the bank of one of the cards listed and then leave immediately.

That day, you felt good. You were thumbing through the wallet, and you had counted $60 and you felt so excited. You could eat for **weeks** on that money, but before you could actually go and find something to eat, you found yourself pinned to the wall by Undyne, and a spear at your throat. Yup, you were caught. She had you arrested and because of your age and preexisting record, you were sent to juvenile detention.

You were charged for theft in the second degree and sentenced to juvie for 4 months when you were 17 years old. You were able to get out of juvie 3 months early for good behavior. You were more determined than ever to never get caught so you would never be sent back there again. That place…just…. did a lot to you and you didn’t ever want to go back.

When Undyne found out you were back on the streets, she was on you constantly. She wasn’t aware of your ‘home’s’ location, but whenever she could, she would keep tabs on you. You had to change panhandling spots more times than you could count because of how much Undyne was following you. You theorized that because of your preexisting record, Undyne really wanted to make sure that you got the justice that you deserved. Now it wasn’t your fault you had a record, you were FORCED into this situation, but you didn’t want to dwell on the past for too long, since it made you remember a lot. It was better if you tried not to think about your past too much. Your mental state was fragile enough as it was, best not to shatter it.

Anyways, you moved to your second spot and stayed there from 10am-1pm. Once again you had to move because of the cops, and because no one was really around at one. During this time, you got a dime, a quarter, and lots of wrappers from different kinds of food. You didn’t dislike getting wrappers since sometimes there was still food on the wrappers and you would eat that up. Because of the stares of disgust, you received from passerby’s, you made sure to do this without looking up at them. At 1 o’clock, you departed from your spot and you were left with a few options.

Option 1: You could return home and sleep until it was time for you to hit your last spot for the day

Option 2: You could go get something to eat (only if you had money, which was rare).

Option 3: You could go take a walk around the city.

Since option 2 was out, you were faced with 1 and 3. You weren’t feeling that tired, even though you got very little sleep last night, so you decided to go with option 3. Ebott City was surprisingly big and had a lot of places you could go to. You could go take a walk down by the harbor/docks, the beach, the forest, hike the mountain itself, go downtown, trek through the nearby suburbs, or go to one of the parks that were nearby. Ebott City was built in the right location where there was always something to do, though it was weather permitting since there fewer places that were ‘safe’ to go to in the winter.

You had made up your mind to go on a walk first downtown. As you walked downtown, you passed by a particularly popular bakery run by a spider monster, walked by the university, then finally made your way to the park. As you entered the park you waved to a kind blue rabbit monster selling Nice Cream, and walk to a park bench and relaxed. You counted your money twice before putting it in a small coin purse that you found in the dump. You had about $10.67 on you, which was enough for a burger at Grillby’s but you wanted to save up for a second burger. You had a feeling Grillby would give you a discount because of your situation but you waved that away. Grillby was already so nice to you, you didn’t wanna do anything that could damage your already somewhat friendship.

You stared at the sky for about 2 hours, and when it was 3 o’clock, you start to head to your final spot to get some money. You had only been walking for about 20 minutes or so, until you heard the sound of struggling and fighting. Now let’s get one thing straight, you’re not a fighter, but you like to think you can defend yourself. Of course, when someone like you, weak and very vulnerable gets into a fight, you tend to have very little odds of leaving unscathed; worst case scenario you could wind up dead.

Curiosity is one of your biggest faults after all, so naturally you went to investigate the noise. After walking for a few short moments, you found yourself at the entrance of another alley. At the end of it, you see a monster kid, a yellow dinosaur-looking one with no arms, cowering as three human males, all looking to be about 20 years old or so, standing over the quivering monster as they prepared to beat them up. You felt angry and disgusted. How dare those three pick on a child, one that can’t properly defend themselves?! Something in you snapped, and you grabbed the lid of a garbage can, and chucked it like it was a frisbee. Luck was on your side when it collided with one of the bullies in their back, causing him to fall and cry out in pain. Of course, this caused the other two to look at their fallen comrade in worry and look around for the perpetrator that assaulted their friend, and of course, their eyes landed on you. You, a 19-year-old human, that looks about 16 because of your height and how skinny you were. You knew that you were in for a bad time.

They glared at you with hate as the monster kid looked on in surprise and shock. You were somewhat frozen in place. Why did you do that? Now you’ve interfered. There was a good chance you would end up very injured. As your mind kept reeling on your actions, one of the men walked up to you and picked you up by the front of your shirt, easily lifting you off the ground.

“Well look here fellas, a street rat wants to act tough,” he says with a smirk, causing the others to smirk as well.

“You shouldn’t pick on a monster like that! It’s against the law,” you said back. You motion to the monster kid to get out of here with a wave of your hand. They seem to hesitate before nodding and running off. ‘At least they’re safe,’ you think before your attention is turned back to the bullies.

“Oh, so it’s a lady street rat. You think you’re the police sweetie?” another one of them ask as they advance towards you.

“No, but I know what’s right and what’s wrong,” you snapped at them, earning you a slap in the face.

Angry about being struck in the face, you slap back at your captor making them cry out in surprise and drop you. As you look up, you see that your nails had scratched his cheek, digging deep enough to draw blood. He touched his wound and then looked at his fingers. Seeing the blood, he glared at you with hate. You were so screwed. You instantly regretted doing that.

You ran.

You ran like your life depended on it, which it did. Where could you go?! If you went home, they might destroy your box. You had nowhere truly to run. Ugghh, where was Captain Undyne when you needed her?! You decided to run through the different alleyways and see if you could lose them. After traversing through the city so much you knew most of the alleyways ins and outs. You make a sharp left, knocking over whatever was at your side, be it garbage cans, crates, boxes, anything, you wanted to get away. You hear their feet behind you. Were they really that close?!

You make more sharp turns, hoping to throw them off, but it was like they expected this. You curse yourself since you never realized they probably knew the alleyways too. You needed a new plan and fast! What could you do? Where could you run to? Did you have any allies?

Wait.

Grillby!

He would help you. You hated to involve the kind monster, but you hoped that he wouldn’t mind. You’d repay him later, but you NEEDED help. You changed your route and started heading for Grillby’s. You were about 9 blocks away when you were tackled onto the ground, pinned down by the man that you injured. Correction, **now** you were screwed.

“You little bitch, you think you can attack me and run away without punishment?” He snarled down at you.

“L-let me g-go!” You struggled and tried to sound brave at the same time.

“Heh, no can do sweetheart. You hurt me and one of my friends. On top of that, you’re a monster lover too; now that’s something we can’t let go by without some sort of punishment.”

At this point in time, you were scared. Not only were you screwed, the other two boys had caught up and were ready to deliver judgement on you. You shivered, not just because of the cold, but in fear. You were thrown against the wall, and you could hear the sickening sound of your head banging the brick hard. A cry of pain emanated from your throat. By the gods that hurt, and you really hoped you didn’t have any brain damage from that. Before you could even recover, you felt a swift kick to your stomach, making you gasp for air. You tried to stand up, only to have one of them press their foot down on your back, preventing your already weak body from getting up.

“Oh no sweetheart, don’t you know the rules of this game? You don’t leave until we say you can leave you monster loving bitch,” one of the bullies whispered in your ear. You couldn’t tell which one it was, your vision was still swimming from your head hitting the wall so hard.

“I bet she’s a monster fucker too,” one of the friends said.

“Are you a monster fucker as well toots? Answer correctly and we’ll let you off easy,” the same voice whispered in your ear.

Oh great, what should you do? Your easiest option would be to say you weren’t affiliated with monsters and apologize profusely to your abusers so they would let you go. You could also go with the other option and say yes you were a ‘monster fucker,’ but you would get beaten more. Hell you probably would die. Besides, you had nothing against monsters. Grillby was already so kind to you and there was that blue rabbit in the park that always greeted you when you walked by. Sure you’ve had a few run-ins with Undyne, but she was just doing her job. You couldn’t go against any of them for having really done nothing to you. Call it pride, but you didn’t want to give these guys the sick satisfaction of seeing you submit to them. You hated both options, so you made your own. You turn towards the one closest to you and blinked your eyes a few times to clear your vision. Once your vision cleared you saw the one you hit with the garbage lid being the one that was holding you down. You decided to answer them now.

**By spitting in his face.**

“Go to hell,” you growled out, only to be punched in the face again, but much harder.

“Mother fucking bitch! You’re in for it now!” The one you spit on growled back and cleaned his face.

The onslaught continued; you were beat, kicked, spit at, and tossed about like a rag doll. Your stomach hurt, you could swear you heard one of your ribs crack from the non-stop kicking, your face hurt so much you were sure that there would be a bruise or two on your face. Your vision was still swimming, and you did your best to protect yourself, but three against one was hardly fair.

Just when you thought that they were done, they started to frisk you. ‘Oh no. Not this again!’ You thought with panic. Their hands were all over your body. You hated this feeling. You thought they were going to rape you. Hell their hands lingered on your breasts and butt. As you were about to scream ‘rape,’ one of them reached out and covered your mouth, silencing your cries. This was no good. You were already starting to hyperventilate. However, that seemed to stop once one of them found your coin purse with all your money saved up in it and they grinned.

“Look here guys, our friend here has some money she’s willing to give us as an apology for hurting us,” one of them said as they began to count your hard earned money.

“Aww how generous of you,” another one said while smirking down at you.

“Wow only $10? What? A whore like you not good enough at fucking?” The one that counted your money asked with a tsk.

“That’s sad, right Pete?” the one covering your mouth asked looking at the one that counted your money.

“Indeed Adam,” Pete said to the one covering your mouth, who then turned to the other one holding you down, “say Adam, Rich, how about we teach this whore how to really fuck?”

Both smirked and nodded. You struggled much harder to get away. You didn’t want this! You didn’t want them to rape you! You prayed that if there was a god, that they would help you this one time. Hell you’d take a demon if they’d hear you. As luck would have it, their phones dinged with a text message. They all looked at the message and sighed in annoyance for being interrupted.

“We have to go sweetheart,” Pete said.

“But don’t worry, the next time we meet, we’ll show you a good time,” Adam said with a smirk.

With that said, all of them left with your money. You took a few moments to catch your breath. This was bad. Now you needed to watch out for them and Undyne. Yay making more enemies than allies. Just what you wanted to do. You slowly sat up, wincing from the pain in your rib cage and stomach and slowly started to walk home. Your form staggered as you slowly walked, swaying now and then from the pain.

So that’s what happened. You decided against going to your last panhandling spot for the day and instead made your way home. You stopped as you looked at Grillby’s. ‘Maybe Grillby wouldn’t mind me hanging out in the kitchen with him for a little while, just to get the chill off my bones,’ you thought. With that, you walk around back, having peeked into the restaurant’s window and saw that Grillby had quite the crowd in there right now. You really hoped that Grillby wouldn’t mind despite being as busy as he was. What time even was it? After contemplating whether or not you should bother Grillby, you sucked up what courage you still had and knocked four times on the back door. You waited for a few minutes and slowly grew worried more when time passed. A few moments became five minutes and five minutes became ten.

‘Maybe he’s just so busy he didn’t hear me?’ You wonder thoughtfully.

Just as you were about to turn away, the door opened and Grillby smiled down at you. How do you know that he was smiling at you? It was a weird feeling that you had, but it felt right. This feeling was hard to explain.

“(Y/N) please come in,” he said as he stepped aside to allow you entrance.

“Thank you Grillby,” you said as you walked inside.

Instantly, you could feel the change in temperature, and it felt wonderful to your worn body. The kitchen was warm but not unbearably warm. It was more of a comfortable warm you feel when you’re around a campfire in the summer. No doubt Grillby was the one that controlled the temperature in the building. You vaguely wondered what his heating bill looked like. With a sigh of relief, you shed your jacket and placed it on the back of the chair that Grillby always had set aside for you in his kitchen for whenever you would visit him. He always told you that you were welcome and he did tell you on one occasion that he did enjoy your company. While you did feel bad that you were so dirty, you took great care to be sure that you didn’t dirty Grillby’s nice clean kitchen too much. You didn’t need him to overwork himself just for you. That wouldn’t be right.

Sitting in the chair, you calmly started to watch Grillby cook. He cooked with precision and excellence. The best way to describe Grillby’s cooking was that he was on a mission to serve his customers with excellence and perfection. You could easily tell that he took pride in his work and…was that fire magic? You squint to get a good look since your vision was still not cooperating. Indeed, Grillby wasn’t using the stove at all, granted the pans were on the stove, but magic flowed out of Grillby’s hands and heated the pans. That… was extremely handy. He could easily monitor the heat accordingly. Monsters were so cool, and their magic was so fascinating!!

“Would you like anything to eat?” Grillby suddenly asked, snapping you out of your thoughts.

“No thank you Grillby, I can’t afford it right now,” you say in response.

It could have been your imagination, but did the heat around Grillby soften? It was hard to tell and hard to focus. It was so warm in the kitchen that you felt drowsy. It was times like these it made you never want to go back to your box. You could easily slip into a comfortable sleep sitting in that chair surrounded by Grillby’s warmth. That begged the question if Grillby knew about your situation at all. Did he think that you were truly homeless or in a foster home? You’d have to ask him someday; when you had the confidence of course.

“Are you certain?” he asked hesitantly. It was obvious he wanted to feed you.

“Positive,” you say back in response with a smile and a thumbs up.

A few moments go by and it’s a semi-comfortable silence. You watch Grillby cook, handle the orders and go in and out to the bar using the double doors. When you first came into the bar and you watched him go out the double doors, you were very curious to see what was behind the bar. Of course you weren’t gonna be nosey. While you watched Grillby work, you felt your eyes start to get heavy. It was just so warm, and you felt safe with Grillby nearby. He wouldn’t mind if you rested your eyes, right?

“How did you get that mark on your face?” he asked softly.

“Mark?” You asked drowsily.

Grillby put both pans down on the stove and wiped his hands on his apron. He then walked over to you and knelt down gently to be at your level. You watched confused as he pointed a flaming finger at your right cheek, to which you lightly touched and winced. ‘Damn, it bruised already? That was fast.’

“I… uhm…. It’s hard to explain,” I say quietly, unable to meet his eyes.

“Is someone hurting you?” Grillby asked softly.

“N-no, I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” you answer quietly.

You weren’t able to meet his gaze. You weren’t lying, but you weren’t being entirely honest with him. Deep down, you loved that Grillby was worried about you; you sincerely did. However, he was your one true friend at the moment. You can’t lose him, and you don’t want to involve him in your mess. After all, he had a business to run, and what if he had a family that he needed to take care of. Adding you to his plate would just make you feel like you burdened him.

“May I heal you?” He asked after a few moments of silence.

“Oh, uhm, sure,” you say after a few moments.

Grillby nodded and told you to stay still and to trust him. You nodded at that because you did trust him. He very slowly placed his hand on your stinging cheek, and out of the corner of your eyes, you saw it glowing more than usual. Now it didn’t hurt, nor did it burn, which was ironic since Grillby was made of fire. It was soft and warm, and when he pulled his hand away you placed your hand on your cheek and were surprised it wasn’t stinging anymore.

“Does that feel better?” He asked softly.

“Yes, that’s incredible Grillby,” you said in awe.

“Healing magic is quite handy,” he said chuckling softly.

‘Was that a pun?’ you wonder idly.

“Thank you so much Grillby,” you say sincerely. For once you had a smile that reached your eyes.

“You’re welcome,” he said softly, and you could feel that he was returning your smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *hides* So...yeah....I promise you'll meet some other characters in the next chapter. But yeah, this chapter was a something huh? 
> 
> Thanks for Reading :)


	3. A Heroic Rescue By A Heroic Skele

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter. Enjoy~ ;)
> 
> 'thinking'  
> "talking"  
> Y/N: Your Name

After Grillby took care of you and you felt like you could somewhat walk on your own, you thanked him and left out the back door.  Grillby was such a kind person, it was almost hard to believe that there were people like that out there in the world.  It really warmed your heart knowing that you had an ally like Grillby.  After you left the restaurant, you found yourself looking between your box and the entrance of the alleyway.  You could try to catch your final panhandling spot that you worked from 7pm until 9pm or you could rest for the rest of the day.  Your body was still very beat up, Grillby only healed the bruise on your cheek.  Thinking about the rest of your injuries made you wince and instinctively hold your left side.  You were sure that your head probably was bruised and you no doubt had a broken rib or two.  You quickly lift your shirt and went to a broken mirror that you pulled from a dumpster.  In the shattered mirror, you could see your reflection.  You could see various sized bruises littering your body from the beating you endured earlier.  With this pain, you doubted that you could get any sleep.  So, with this in mind, you decided to walk around the city.  As you walked, you tried to stick close to the shadows, doing your best to avoid Adam, Pete, and Rich; if they were out and about still.

Downtown Ebbott City was beautiful at night.  All the neon signs were a glow and the night life came out from that shadows, in all different shapes and sizes.  Of course, you learned the hard way that it was safer to stay away from the red-light district.  A cold shiver ran down your spine at the memory.  Best to not dwell on the past, it was better to focus on the here and now.  The most important thing right now was to be as careful as possible; you were still very injured, and you needed to nurse your injuries.  You couldn’t afford a hospital.  You began to reflect on how you dealt with those bullies.

‘Was that really smart of me to do that?’ You wondered, recalling how you spat in one of their faces.  Which one did you spit at again?  It was hard to recall, it happened so fast after all.  The whole event made your head spin.  This caused you to stagger and lean against the side of a building to your left and pant softly.  You take a few moments for you to collect your bearings, ignoring the looks passerbys gave you while you did this.  Perhaps it would be better to focus on where you were going than reflect on the past.

Once you got your bearings, you take this opportunity to see exactly where you were.  Wow, you walked really far since you were at the edge of downtown.  How long had you even been walking?  You were very close to the ‘Monster District.’  The Monster District wasn’t like the historical slums you learned about in school.  However, you could tell where the Monster District started and where downtown Ebott City ended.  There was a sign that read **‘MONSTER DISTRICT.  POPULATION 450.’**   They updated this sign a lot since there were still monsters that were in the process of moving out of the underground to the surface.  There wasn’t a gate or fence, instead, a paved road connected the Monster District to the humans. 

The monster district was very nice.  Considering that this part of town was constantly in development, the buildings looked fantastic.  They were decently sized and made of sturdy bricks and other materials.  The homes were various one, two, even three-story buildings of various sizes and shapes.  There was a school that you recalled was finished six months ago because some important monster figure wanted it.  You couldn’t remember exactly who that was though.  You vaguely wondered what else had been built or was in the process of being built.  You never really had the courage to enter the Monster District because there had been some protests against the monsters.  There were some humans that still weren’t open to the idea of having monsters living/working amongst them.  Sure the monsters haven’t retaliated using magic, but you feared that they would look down on you with hate.  You were an easy target after all, small for your age, a woman, and you couldn’t defend yourself.  Though you did hear that there were humans that had traveled back and forth from downtown to the district, and they didn’t have any trouble that you knew of.

Since you were already over here, you decided to just walk along the edge of the Monster District so that way in case those three came back, you could run into the monster district.  Actually now that you thought about it, it was surprising Grillby’s wasn’t closer to the monster district.  Why was that?  Oh right, it was so popular that the city gave Grillby permission to move to his current location.  That was cool, but of course, Grillby’s was a monster joint.  That meant that monsters were now roaming your side of town a lot.  Well you didn’t mind; you had no issues with monsters. 

“Well look at this guys,” a familiar voice called out, making your blood freeze.

“If it isn’t our _friend_ the street rat,” a second familiar voice said as three sets of footprints started to make their way towards you.

no no no no no no no No No NO NO NO! **NO! NO!** You weren’t ready to deal with them so soon.  You couldn’t handle it.  Your body couldn’t handle it.  You wouldn’t be able to get away and you were too far from Grillby’s to even possibly get some help.  They were closing in on you and without really thinking about it, you bolted into the monster district; hoping that they wouldn’t run after you since they hated monsters.  As luck would have it, they ran after you.  You had the absolute worst luck ever.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Pete called after you.

“Yeah, we only want to talk to you,” Adam shouted.

There were monsters looking at you in confusion and annoyance, maybe even both, as you ran past.  You didn’t care, you just wanted to get away from these three bullies.  In fact, you were shocked that you were able to run as hard and fast as you were.  ‘It must be adrenaline,’ you thought vaguely as you ran.  If there was anyone that could—no would help you, be it a monster, human, god, demon, ANYONE you needed them the most right now and you would never ask for help again!

‘Please someone, anyone, please help me,’ you prayed. 

Perhaps your prayer was answered, or maybe it was just a coincidence, because you crashed into someone.  This someone felt rather tall, and the force of the impact knocked both you and them down to the ground, moaning in pain from the impact.  You immediately grabbed your side, regretting that instantly.  You felt as though your broken ribs got jolted and perhaps cracked even more.

‘Ugh who did I run into? It’s like they’re all skin and bone,’ you wondered as you blinked to clear your vision.  Man did your head hurt.

“ARE YOU ALRIGHT HUMAN?” A really loud voice asked you, shaking you out of your thoughts. 

Once your vision cleared you saw that you ran into a skeleton.  Not one of those stereotypical Halloween decorations, even though Halloween wasn’t until the end of the month, but a literal skeleton.  This skeleton was very tall, much taller than you, they wore red boots, blue short things, a large white shirt that looked like armor, red gloves and a long red scarf. 

“HUMAN? DID I INJURE YOU?” The skeleton asked you again since you hadn’t responded to him yet.  You still couldn’t believe you ran into a skeleton. 

“I--,” you start to say until you felt three pairs of hands grab you.  ‘Oh no,’ you thought as your eyes grew widen and your body became frozen with fear.

“There you are sister,” Adam said worriedly.

“OH, IS THIS YOUR SIBLING?” The skeleton asked Adam curiously.  ‘No, please don’t believe them.’  You do your best to give the skeleton a look that begged for help.

“N-,” You tried to respond but Adam put a finger to you lips to silence you.

“Now sister, remember what the doctor said? No talking for a while or your voice won’t come back,” Adam said to you, lying smoothly, and you prayed this skeleton didn’t buy it.

“WHAT HAPPENED?” He asked curiously.

“Singing accident,” Pete lied easily. 

‘Did they have this whole scenario planned out?!’ You thought frantically and try to will your body to fight against them.

“SOMETHING SEEMS OFF,” The skeleton thought aloud while watching us.  He raised a gloved hand to his jaw bone in thought.

“Sorry to bother you sir, we’ll be taking our friend’s sister home now,” Rich replied to the skeleton while the other two started to drag you away. 

This was it.  You were beyond screwed.  You were super ultra mega screwed.  You were going to get raped and then they would probably kill you.  You lived a short life but you didn’t want this.  Anything but this.  You didn’t want to die!  Suddenly, you saw flashes of yourself, pinned down by strangers and being forced to submit to them.  **NO!** These memories were ones you didn’t want to remember.  You worked so hard to bury these memories, and if this was how you were going to die, you didn’t want these memories to be the last thing you remember.

They dragged you into an alley when they were sure they were in the clear.  Once they were sure they hadn’t been followed and that the alleyway was vacant, they shoved you to the ground and smirked.  You cried out in pain as you landed on your left side.  It hurt, it hurt so much. 

“Stupid bitch, you thought you could get away from us,” Pete chuckled as he watched you struggle to pick yourself up from the ground.

“Let me--,” you started to protest, only for them to hit you hard in the back of my head with a blunt object.  You cried out loudly again, they hit your head right where you hit your head earlier.  You reach up with a shaky hand and felt the back of your head.  You felt some sort of warm liquid on your fingers, and pulling your fingers back, it confirmed your fears.  You were bleeding.

“Bad whore, you don’t fight against your betters,” Rich said with a grin.

Your vision was blurring as you lay crumpled on the ground.  That had hurt.  A lot.  You vaguely heard the sound of clothes ruffling and then air whooshing past you.  They had to have been closing in on you.  However, you heard someone saying something.  ‘Who’s talking?’ You wonder vaguely.  You head hurt so much, and it became so much harder to concentrate on anything accept the pain you were feeling.  There were words said to back and forth then black, that much you were confident about.  At that point your vision started to go in and out.  When your vision came back, you vaguely saw the silhouette of someone kneeling in front of you.  You couldn’t identify who it was, you couldn’t even hear anything except your heart beat and breathing.  The next thing that you felt was that you were lifted in the air and held by that someone.  It was at that point when you succumbed to the darkness.

 

* * *

 

 

….

…

..

.

‘Where am I? Am I dead?’ you mused softly as you laid where ever you were. 

If this was death, it was surprisingly soft and warm.  This completely went against the phrase ‘being as cold as death.’  When even was the last time that you even were so comfortable?  This was incredibly confusing, but you weren’t really complaining.  If only you had died sooner.  You could stay like this forever.

You thought back to the last thing you remembered, someone picking you up and carrying you out of that alley in the Monster District.  Was it one of the boys?  Was it a monster that found you after those three had their way with you? You didn’t get a good look at them to determine who or what they were.  Perhaps it was Undyne and you were in the police station’s holding cell again.  However, you knew from experience that those cells were cold and tended to be damp.  So that was out.  Maybe if you opened your eyes and looked around you could find out. 

‘Wait, aren’t my eyes open already?’

‘Maybe I’m not dead?’

These were your thoughts as you lay comfortably in the darkness.  Finally, after much inner turmoil, you opened your eyes to find yourself not at the pearly gates, but in a living room.  This living room was spacious with a TV on a stand, underneath were some game systems along with a crate full of games and movies.  Along the walls of the living room were picture frames of various people, but your head hurt too much to focus on them for too long.  You finally take notice of what you were laying on, which appeared to be a large green couch.  This was no ordinary couch either.  This was the type of couch that if you laid on it, it would mold to the shape of your body.  On top of that, you were covered by an orange and blue blanket with little bone designs on it.  You also were laying in a somewhat upright position against some very soft and comfortable pillows.

‘Definitely not dead,’ you concluded mentally after looking around.

“HUMAN, YOU ARE FINALLY AWAKE!” A loud yet familiar voice called from the kitchen area. 

‘Wait, that voice,’ you thought and turned towards the source of the noise. Your body and head immediately jolted in pain and your hand goes to your head.  You felt bandages wrapped around your head, when did that happen?

It was indeed the same skeleton you saw before.  This place must be his house, and you were extremely relieved that you were not with Adam, Pete, Rich or in a ditch somewhere.  The skeleton immediately came over and gently readjusted you so that way you were laying comfortable on your back. 

“How long was I asleep?” You ask, looking up at the skeleton, who seemed to be wearing an apron that once said, ‘Kiss the Cook,’ that now says, ‘Master Chef Papyrus.’  Papyrus?  Was that this skeleton’s name?

“IT HAS BEEN ALMOST TWO DAYS SINCE I HAVE BROUGHT YOU TO MY HUMBLE ABODE HUMAN,” he replied promptly. 

“TWO DAYS?!” You exclaimed sitting up fast, which your broken ribs and injured head didn’t like.  You cried out in pain again.

“TAKE IT EASY HUMAN, THOSE BULLIES DID A NUMBER ON YOUR HEAD.  I WAS ABLE TO WRAP YOUR HEAD INJURY AND STOP THE BLEEDING, BUT I UNFORTUNATELY HAVE NOT HAD THE CHANCE TO HEAL YOU.  IN FACT, MY LAZYBONES BROTHER SUGGESTED WE WAITED UNTIL YOU WOKE UP BEFORE HEALING YOU,” The apron wearing skeleton said, with surprising gentleness, pushed you back to lay down on the couch again.

“Ow…thank you mr…uhm…,” you started to thank the skeleton, but you still didn’t know this monster’s name.  He seemed to understand your predicament and stood up proudly posing with a hand to his chest and the other on his hip.  Wait, was his scarf billowing in the wind?  There wasn’t a breeze in the house.  You didn’t have long to dwell on this fact.

“I AM KNOWN AS THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AND YOU MAY ADRESS ME AS SUCH, OR JUST PAPYRUS,” Papyrus said looking at me, “AND WHAT MIGHT YOUR NAME BE HUMAN?”

“It’s (Y/N), thanks for helping me Papyrus,” you say gently with a kind smile.

“FEAR NOT HUMAN, FOR IT IS ONLY NATURAL THAT I HELP THOSE IN NEED.  WHAT KIND OF MONSTER WOULD I BE IF I JUST LET THOSE BULLIES HURT SOMEONE WEAKER THAN THEM? ERR…NOT SAYING THAT YOU _ARE_ WEAK HUMAN, BUT FEAR NOT, NOW THAT YOU WERE SAVED BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS, NO HARM SHALL BEFALL YOU WHILE YOU ARE WITHIN MY RADAR,” Papyrus stated gallantly.

Your eyes widened as you listened to Papyrus.  Was he even real?  He was so sweet, like a cinnamon roll.  It was still amazing to note how kind he was being to you.  Most people would have just let people like you die on the ground or not come to your aid and turn a blind eye.  But not Papyrus, he took the time out of his day to not only rescue you, but also bring you back to his home and tend to your injuries.  Monsters were so much kinder than humans.  How ironic.

“Thank you again Papyrus, do you mind telling me what happened?  I don’t remember too much after I got hit in the head.” You say as you looked at Papyrus, hoping to get some answers.

“IT WAS QUITE THE EPIC BATTLE HUMAN.  FOR YOU SEE, I KNEW SOMETHING WAS WRONG.  YOU HAD TEARS IN THE CORNERS OF YOUR EYES PLUS I COULD SEE YOU SHAKING, AND NOT BECAUSE YOU WERE COLD.  BECAUSE OF THIS, I FOLLOWED YOU AND THOSE BULLIES TO THAT ALLEY.  I SAW THEM HIT YOU WITH A BAT AND YOUR HEAD WAS BLEEDING.  I COULDN’T BELIEVE THAT THEY WOULD DARE TO HIT A GIRL LIKE THAT; AND THEY WERE ABOUT TO TAKE OFF THEIR CLOTHES WHICH I THOUGHT WAS VERY STRANGE.  SO I JUMPED AROUND THE CORNER AND DEMANDED TO KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON.  THOSE BULLIES CHARGED AT ME, BUT LIKE THE EXPERT FIGHTER I AM, I WAS EASILY ABLE TO DODGE THEIR ATTACKS.  THANKS TO MY YEARS OF TRAINNING I WAS LEFT UNSCATHED.  I FELT BAD THAT I HAD TO USE MAGIC ON THEM TO GET THEM TO LEAVE, BUT IF IT WAS TO SAVE YOU, THEN I FELT LIKE I HAD TO DO IT.  I UNLEASHED SEVERAL OF MY BEST BONE ATTACKS AND THEY RAN AWAY.  BUT FEAR NOT, THE GREAT PAPYRUS DID NOT HURT THEM.  ONCE THEY WERE GONE, I WENT TO CHECK ON YOU HUMAN, BUT YOU WEREN’T RESPONDING TO ME.  I REALIZED HOW MUCH YOUR HEAD WAS BLEEDING, SO I BROUGHT YOU BACK HERE, WHERE ME AND MY BROTHER TOOK CARE OF YOU.  WELL MOSTLY ME SINCE MY BROTHER JUST WATCHED,” Papyrus said as he told his epic tale on how he rescued you.

“you’re so cool bro,” a new voice spoke from behind you.

You jumped in surprise, not having expected at all.  Turning your head slightly, you saw that there was another skeleton that entered the room without your knowledge.  He walked around and stood next to Papyrus. You could see that Papyrus was much taller than the other, but the other looked a bit bigger?  It could just be because he wore a blue hoodie.  He also wore black basketball shorts, and pink house slippers, completing his weird outfit.  He did not seem threatening at all.  His voice was much softer than Papyrus’ and it was a deep, not really a baritone voice, but it’s one that you wouldn’t mind listening to.  This must be Papyrus’ brother. 

“THERE YOU ARE SANS, I THOUGHT YOU WOULD NEVER WAKE UP!” Papyrus said putting his hands on his hips as he scolded his brother.  So, Papyrus was the older brother?

“sorry bro, but you know me, i was _bone_ tired from the skele- _ton_ of work i had to do today,” Sans replied with a wink, to which Papyrus groaned at the puns.  You felt yourself break into a smile because it was funny.

“SANS DO NOT START! THE HUMAN JUST WOKE UP AND YOU DON’T NEED TO MAKE HER HEAD INJURY WORSE WITH THOSE TERRIBLE PUNS OF YOURS!” Papyrus scolded again to which Sans turned to look at YOU.  He seemed to have lights in his eye sockets, whereas Papyrus didn’t.  Those lights in his eye sockets, was the correct term eye lights?, seemed to look over you.

“i see that.  mornin’or evenin’ i suppose,” Sans greeted.

“H-hello,” you greeted shyly. 

‘C’mon (Y/N), no need to act shy now.  You’re fine.  You’re in a house with two skeleton monsters.  No need to be shy.  It was okay.  Just breathe and talk. Make conversation.  Words.  You can do it.’

“I-it’s nice to meet you Sans,” you say, extending your hand out to shake his.  You stuttered a little but that was a good attempt on your part.

Sans was staring at you, but it felt like he was staring at your soul.  Was he trying to assess something about your friendly gesture.  Was this offensive to skeletons? Did you do something wrong?  Oh jeez, how great, you’re insulting the brothers, whom have opened their house to you, by using an inappropriate gesture.  Before you could pull your hand back and apologize, Sans took your hand in his and grinned.  And at that moment, the sound of a whoopee cushion deflating could be heard by all three occupants in the living room.

Oh.

My.

God.

Did that really just happen?  Sans was holding his sides and laughing, while you could feel your face flush crimson.  Papyrus was just as stunned as you, but he seemed to snap out of his shocked state before you could.

“SANS!” he scolded.

“the ol’ whoopee cushion in the hand trick, it’s always funny,” Sans said.

Oh.  That was a prank.  It wasn’t you.  You feel your face morph from shock, a relieved smile; you even let out a breath that you didn’t realize you were holding.  You didn’t even notice the gag in his hand.  When had he put it on?  That was when you smelled something burning.

“Is something burning?” you ask curiously, watching Papyrus gasp.

“THE SPAGHETTI!!” He shouted and bolted into the kitchen.                                                               

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, you met Papyrus and Sans!! Next chapter you will eat The Great Papyrus' Spaghetti and other stuff will happen. If you have any questions, but don't feel like commenting (which a few people have sent me something about that), feel free to message me on tumblr and ask that way. My tumblr is lunamotou.tumblr. com.
> 
> Thanks For Reading! :)


	4. UPDATE

Hello lovely readers!!

I bet you thought I forgot about this story didn't ya? Well I'm here to let you know that I am **BACK** and with a **PASSION!!!**

Truth is, I've been really **REALLY** busy with college.  I'm so very close to graduating I can almost taste it.  However, I'm now on summer vacation and I felt really nostalgic.  I looked back through this story and I really REALLY  **REALLY** missed writing it.  Plus I noticed a skele-ton of errors and mistakes that gave me a skull splitting headache.  

What I've done, these past few days was completely re-edit chapters 1-3 of this story.  YUP! Some stuff has been added and some stuff was taken out.  Things were fixed and now it flows nicely, so I really encourage you to reread those chapters if you have read this story in the past.  If you're new to the story, please disregard that.

Chapter 4 is already in the works as we speak, and I hope that I will have it out in the next couple of days.  I fully intended to continue to write this story, but chapter updates might come at varying paces from now on; but I promise to  **not** fall off the face of the Earth again without an explanation.  

I really look forward to posting more content and I  _really_ look forward to hearing your feedback.  Any comments, questions, or concerns you have regarding the story, feel free to PM me on tumblr at lunamotou.tumblr.com or leave a comment here for this chapter and I will respond to them like I have for previous chapters.

See you soon!

 

\--Luna


	5. Dinner with the Skelebros

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY!! After 2 years of waiting, this chapter is FINALLY done!! I'm sorry, I wanted this out a few days sooner, but we just got a German Shepard puppy and he has been taking up a lot of my time. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!!
> 
> 'thinking'  
> "talking"  
> (Y/N): Your Name
> 
> WARNING: THERE IS A SLIGHT HINT OF SUICIDAL THOUGHTS IN THIS CHAPTER. IT WILL BE MARKED IN CASE YOU WISH TO SKIP OVER THAT IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO THAT. THIS IS NOT REFLECTIVE ON ME AS THE WRITER, THIS IS PURELY FICTIONAL. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

You had to admit that when Papyrus rushed out of the living room that fast, you worried that the food had caught fire.  Though the thought of having spaghetti filled you with determination and excitement that you hadn’t had in a long time.  You couldn’t remember the last time you had Italian food, and you were very eager to try Papyrus’ cooking.  You noted that Sans had followed his brother into the kitchen, but not with the same worry as his brother; instead, Sans seemed to take his time to walk into the kitchen at his own pace.  You took this opportunity to reflect since you were by yourself.

‘Okay, so I’m gonna have to eat, but how can I when I can barely sit up without being in immense pain?  Well, your arms aren’t broken (Y/N), you don’t need them to feed you.  Well, what if extending your arms causes you pain? Then they would have to feed you,’ you thought as you had an internal battle with yourself. 

You began to feel a little uncomfortable in the laying down position you were in, and you wanted to sit up now.  Out of instinct, you move to have your arms at your sides and move to push yourself up into that more comfortable position you wanted; however, that movement quickly reminded you of your injuries.  A cry of agony and pain escape your lips and your hands grip your sides as you whimper from the pain. 

“OH DEAR I HOPE (Y/N) IS OKAY,” you hear Papyrus say from the kitchen

“don’t worry bro, I’ll check on her,” Sans said. 

Not a moment later, you hear the sound of shuffling feet and looking up, you see Sans walking into the room.  He made his way over to you, and noticing your predicament he helped you readjust yourself so you were sitting up against the pillows. 

“Thank you,” you say as you adjusted the blanket.

“you shouldn’t move much kid.  Paps still needs to heal you,” Sans said. 

“Y-yeah, Papyrus said something about you guys waiting for me to wake up before healing me?” You asked as you tried to remember, fighting the pain in your ribcage.

“yeah, figured you didn’t want someone feelin’ you up in your sleep,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

“W-WHAT?!” You shrieked and blushed hotly, which made Sans laugh.

“nothin’ like that kid. Paps needs to inspect your injuries first and then we go from there.  heal what we can, but the rest is on you,” he said.

Was it just your imagination, or did Sans say that last part a little coldly?  Most likely, you were hungry, and you were recovering from a head injury.  You were just lucky that you hadn’t started to hallucinate or do some other weird stuff that happens when someone has a head injury.  Well, you doubted that Sans really said that in a cold manner.  Sans and Papyrus seemed really nice, and they didn’t seem like they wanted to hurt you; plus, you hadn’t done anything to provoke any violence from them.  Speaking of pain, you were really starting to get uncomfortable from all of it. 

“R-right, u-uhm, c-can we get started on the healing?  A-As much as I love pain, this is getting a little unbearable,” You said jokingly yet shyly, not wanting to complain but the pain was getting pretty excruciating.

“lemme get Paps,” he said and strolled back into the kitchen.

You laid down in apprehension.  That wasn’t a very nice joke Sans said earlier, but what he said made sense.  They’d have to inspect your injuries to determine how extensive they were.  Though…. what would happen after?  Would they throw you back out on the streets? Would they let you stay until you were completely healed?

Well the last one was unlikely.  You couldn’t ask them to do that, they’ve already let you stay in their house for two days!  Though you couldn’t go to a hospital, you were broker than broke.  You couldn’t help but sigh sadly and lay back against the soft pillows.  Might as well try to enjoy this feeling while it lasted right?  Before you could continue to wallow, Sans had returned with Papyrus…. who was covered in spaghetti sauce and…. was that a noodle hanging from his head?

“HUMAN! MY BROTHER INFORMS ME THAT YOU’D LIKE TO BE HEALED NOW!” Papyrus said.

“Y-yeah, if that’s not too much trouble,” you say softly, not wanting to sound ungrateful, but the pain was starting to get unbearable.

“NO TROUBLE AT ALL HUMAN! YOU JUST LAY BACK AND LET ME WORK MY MAGIC NYEH HEH HEH!” Papyrus exclaimed before freezing hearing Sans laugh.

“nice pun bro, just remember to not get too _handsy_ ,” Sans said with a grin.   

“SANS HUSH! I NEED TO CONCENTRATE, AND YOUR TERRIBLE PUNS AREN’T HELPING!” Papyrus scolded.  It was then that Papyrus seemed to hesitate.  What could be wrong? Is he not going to heal you?  Y-You really **really** don’t want to go back out on the streets with broken ribs an-and you can’t afford any type of medicine or doctors. 

“W-WELL N-NOW UHM….H-HUMAN DO YOU… UHH.. M-MIND LIFTING UP YOUR SHIRT? I NEED TO CHECK YOUR RIBCAGE SINCE THAT SEEMS TO BE ONE OF THE ABUSED AREAS.  AFTER THAT I WILL CHECK YOUR HEAD,” Papyrus said shyly and was he blushing orange?

“O-oh of course!” you replied after realizing you hadn’t said anything for a few moments. 

Your hands moved down to your shirt, but you pause.  ‘I…It’s okay.  I’m not doing anything for them.  Nothing sexual.  I am just moving my shirt up and not off.  It’s okay,’ you say to yourself.

“you okay there pal?” Sans’ voice called out, making you break from your thoughts.

“Y-yeah I’m okay,” you reply and slowly lift the shirt up.  As you did, you looked at Papyrus and if he had eyeballs, they would have popped out of his sockets.  He gasped and looked at your side in shock.  With a little difficulty, you peer down to see an ugly purple and green bruise the size of your head on the side of your abdomen.

“WOWIE! THAT IS ONE MIGHTY BIG BRUISE! THOSE BULLIES DID QUITE THE NUMBER ON YOU,” Papyrus exclaimed in surprise and lightly touched the afflicted area which made you flinch back and hiss in pain. 

“FORGIVE ME HUMAN.  I NEED TO ASERTAIN WHAT IS BROKEN AND WHAT ISN’T,” he said.  He took off his gloves, which was kinda weird to you since you hadn’t seen Papyrus without his gloves in the few times you’ve seen him.

After a few moments of silence, you felt a nice soothing warmth against your skin.  It was different from Grillby’s not with the same campfire kind of warmth but a warmth with a bubbly feeling to it, like it matched Papyrus’ attitude.  You never wanted this feeling to end, it was very nice.  At one point, you must have closed your eyes because when the feeling stopped you had opened them and looked up at Papyrus curiously, wondering why he had stopped.

“WELL YOU HAVE 3 BROKEN RIBS AND 2 OF THEM ARE FAIRLY BRUISED.  I HEALED THE BRUISED BONES TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY AND TAKE AWAY THE SORENESS, BUT YOU MUST BE CAREFUL FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS.  LET ME TRY TO FIX THE BROKEN RIBS NOW,” Papyrus said before he placed his hands on your side again.  “THIS MIGHT HURT, SO PLEASE TRY TO BEAR THE PAIN.”

After nodding, you began to feel that same warm, bubbly feeling.  You brace yourself to start feeling pain, and it wasn’t long until you did.  You could literally feel the bones move back into place, and there were three sickening snaps and crunch noises you heard.  You cried out in pain and grip the blanket tightly as tears pooled in the corners of your eyes.  Papyrus muttered apologies and soon pulled away from your side.

“THE RIBS ARE NOW BACK IN THEIR PROPER PLACES, I’M SORRY THAT YOU HAD TO ENDURE THAT HUMAN.  THEY’RE STILL PRETTY TENDER, BUT YOU SHOULDN’T TRY TO MOVE TOO TERRIBLY MUCH FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS.  YOU WILL HAVE SOME SORENESS, BUT IT SHOULDN’T BE UNBEARABLE.  DO YOU WISH TO TAKE A BREAK BEFORE I EXAMINE YOUR HEAD?” Papyrus asked, looking down at you worriedly as you shakily took some deep breaths to calm yourself.

Papyrus was such a sweetheart to ask if you wanted a break.  Though, while the pain wasn’t as bad as it was, it was just lingering.  You wanted to get better as soon as possible, then you wouldn’t have to burden them anymore than you’ve already had. 

“I-I’m okay Papyrus.  Pl-please continue,” you say softly and give a small smile.  Papyrus gave it a moment before he nodded and moved behind you, kneeling on the floor.  He lightly placed one of his hands on your back and the other was used to feel around your head as gently as possible

You couldn’t help but wince when you felt him brush up against a sensitive spot.  He froze and went back to that spot and pulled something…out…of your head?  You attempted to turn around, but Papyrus gently turned your head back around to keep working, which you didn’t argue.  Once he was done with that one spot, you could feel Papyrus start to run his fingers through your hair again.  It felt oddly good, despite the few sensitive spots, it felt nice for someone to run their fingers through your hair. Again, you felt that bubbly warmth of Papyrus’ magic and you gave a contented sigh.  When the feeling stopped, Papyrus got up and showed you what he was holding in his hands.  There were several splinters of wood in his hands.

‘Oh…that must have been from a baseball bat,’ you think.  You couldn’t help but worry that those boys would try to do something like that to you again.  Of course, deep down you knew that they would.  You ended up pissing them off and now you were paying for it. 

“geez kid, those guys really did a number on you,” Sans said.

“Y-yeah…they did,” you spoke softly in response.

“WE-WELL, THEY DID ATTACK YOU WITH SOME SORT OF A WOODEN STICK.  I HEALED THOSE AREAS AND YOU HAD A RATHER LARGE BUMP ON THE BACK OF YOUR HEAD HUMAN.  YOU JUST NEED TO REST, AND YOU SHOULD BE OKAY,” Papyrus said as he went to throw away the wooden splinters. 

**\--MENTIONS OF SUICIDAL THOUGHTS START HERE. SKIP IF YOU’D LIKE--**

You nodded as you watched him leave to throw out the splinters.  Monsters were so amazing to have such incredible magic abilities.  Magic was truly incredibly handy.  Of course, you doubted you had any magical abilities. From what you’ve read in newspapers and briefly from TVs you’ve watched from store windows, there were studies done in the past year and scientists were able to conclude that some humans were able to use magic themselves.  Something about having the barrier broken two years ago unlocked the magic within the souls of some humans throughout the world.  However, each human was different, both in soul type and how strongly connected they were to their magic.  You had never tried to summon your soul, so you didn’t know what kind of soul you had, nor did you think you possessed any magical abilities. 

Typical (Y/N), you were no one special, you had no magic, and no one wanted you around.  Really, what were you even doing around anymore?  You belonged nowhere and were useless to society.  You couldn’t get a job, you couldn’t afford any food, clothing, or any essentials one needed to survive.  Honestly…it would probably be best if you were de—

**\--RESUME READING HERE IF YOU SKIPPED--**

“(Y/N)!!!” Papyrus shouted making you break from your thoughts and look at him a little panicked.

“Wh-what?” You asked shakily.

“you were acting like a star kid,” Sans said, making you look over at him confusedly.

“What?” You asked.

“you were spacing out,” he replied to which Papyrus groaned.

“TERRIBLE PUNS ASIDE, YOU WEREN’T RESPONDING TO EITHER OF US CALLING YOUR NAME (Y/N).  YOUR FACE LOOKED SHADOWED AND YOUR EYES WERE KINDA HAZY.  WERE YOU THINKING HARD AND DEEPLY ABOUT SOMETHING?”

“Y-yeah but it’s nothing serious,” you say softly. 

“WELL I HAVE CHECKED OVER YOUR INJURIES HUMAN.  I DID MY BEST TO TAKE CARE OF THE MAJORITY OF THE PAIN AND SORENESS BUT THERE WILL BE A LITTLE.  THANKFULLY YOUR HEAD WASN’T BROKEN, AND YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO LAY DOWN MORE COMFORTABLY NOW.  I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU TAKE IT EASY THE NEXT FEW DAYS.  I WANT YOU TO STAY IN BED, REST, AND JUST ALLOW YOUR INJURIES TO HEAL NATURALLY.  THE SOFTNESS OF YOUR BED AND PILLOWS SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO HELP YOUR INJURIES,” Papyrus stated as he looked down at you.

You nodded to everything the mothering skeleton said, however, the last part was concerning.  You lived in a cardboard box and always curled up against the wall of Grillby’s for heat and warmth.  You owned no pillow, bed, or blanket.  That would mean a trip to the dump and dumpster diving, which you knew you were in no condition to do.

“well now that this is done with, we should eat dinner before it gets cold,” Sans suggested from where he was standing.

“AH GOOD IDEA SANS.  LET’S EAT IN HERE WITH THE HUMAN SO SHE ISN’T LONELY,” Papyrus said as he got up and went to get some plates and utensils for everyone. 

Sans simply shrugged and took a seat in the armchair that wasn’t far from the couch.  Papyrus was quick to return with plates, napkins and forks for everyone.  You move to make room for Papyrus to sit at the other end of the couch, but he told you to not worry about him.  He gave his brother and yourself a plate while he seated himself on the ground beside the coffee table.  You looked down at the plate of steaming spaghetti and it smelled good, **really good.**   It took you a moment to realize that Papyrus and Sans were waiting for you to take the first bite, to which you stabbed the noodles with your fork and swirled it until you had a generous amount on the fork.  You raised it to your lips to which you blew on the food for a moment before you try it.  Your eyes widened as flavor exploded in your mouth.  It was so good!

“WHAT DO YOU THINK HUMAN?” Papyrus asked.

“This is amazing Papyrus! Best spaghetti I’ve ever had hands down!” You say as you happily go back for more.

“NYEH HEH HEH! WHY THANK YOU HUMAN! I AM A MASTER IN THE ART OF PASTAS!” Papyrus said regally, and you instantly believed it.  Sans had a soft expression as his brother spoke.

“your cooking is the best bro,” he said as he ate.

You agreed with Sans, so much so you ended up asking for seconds, and then thirds.  You didn’t think anything about it because you hadn’t eaten in a while and when were you even going to be able to eat spaghetti again!?  Papyrus was delighted to keep feeding you the pasta, but Sans was watching you with an arched brow bone.

“easy there kid, the food isn’t goin’ anywhere,” he said, which made you pause midbite.

“S-sorry, it’s j-just really good,” you said softly.

“SANS BE NICE, SHE HASN’T EATEN IN TWO DAYS,” Papyrus scolded his brother before turning back to you, “(Y/N), PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EAT AS MUCH AS YOU’D LIKE!”  To which you shyly nod and go back to eating.

“mmmm,” Sans only hummed as he continued to eat, “so tell us about yourself (Y/N).”

“O-Oh, w-well what do you wanna know?” You asked nervously. 

“why were those guys after you in the first place?” Sans asked.

“O-oh, well, I kinda…. stopped them from attacking some monster kid,” you said softly, the event still fresh and you instinctively move your hand to your head.

“THEY WERE HURTING A MONSTER KID?” Papyrus asked nervously.

“W-well, what happened was that I was on break from work and when I was walking back, I heard sounds of struggling.  I went to investigate, and I found those three ganging up on this monster kid and I felt like I had to stop them.  I threw a trash can lid at them to turn their attention to me, so the little guy could run away.  Unfortunately for me, while it did work, they have been after me since as punishment for hurting them and interrupting them,” you told them, recalling the events of that initial altercation.

“WOWIE HUMAN! THAT WAS VERY BRAVE AND KIND OF YOU TO HELP OUT NOT ONLY A MONSTER BUT A CHILD!! YOU HAVE A GOOD SOUL!” Papyrus said as he got up and gave you a gentle hug.  You tensed at first but quickly hugged back; you weren’t used to good physical contact.

“and they’re after you because of this.  you already know this but try to avoid them,” Sans said as he looked at you.

“Y-yeah I am trying my best,” you said with a nervous laugh.

“WHERE DO YOU WORK (Y/N)?” Papyrus asked.

“A few places around the city,” you said, careful to not tell them exactly where.  You weren’t really lying to them, “what about you guys? What do you two do?”

“WELL HUMAN! SINCE YOU ASKED, I WORK IN A FLOWER SHOP NOT TOO FAR AWAY FROM HERE.  I MAKE ALL KINDS OF ARRANGEMENTS AND BOUQUETS USING MANY KINDS OF FLOWERS FROM THE SURFACE AND THE UNDERGROUND!” Papyrus replied excitedly.  You were immediately intrigued, and you would HAVE to visit Papyrus at his flower shop someday.  You turned to Sans, curious what the other brother did.

“i do a lot of odd jobs here and there,” Sans replied with a nonchalant shrug.  He was being just as vague as you were. 

“Oh? Like what?” you ask curiously.

“i run a hotdog stand in the park occasionally,” he responded after a few moments.

That made you tense nervously.  Sans was in the park occasionally?  You didn’t recall any hot dog stands in the parks you visited.  Had he seen you before and he knew what you were? You really REALLY hoped not. 

“O-oh, how cool,” you said trying to not sound nervous.

“eh, compared to the other jobs, that one is a _wiener,_ ” he said with a grin.

“SANS I SWEAR TO GOD!” Papyrus huffed at the terrible pun, tensing when he heard you giggle, “DO NOT TAINT (Y/N) WITH YOUR TERRIBLE PUNS!  SHE NEEDS TO REST! SPEAKING OF WHICH (Y/N), SINCE YOU’RE IN NO CONDITION TO BE LEAVING RIGHT NOW, WOULD YOU LIKE TO STAY WITH US UNTIL YOU’RE BETTER?”

You looked at Papyrus with shock, and it seemed that Sans was just as surprised since he dropped a…bottle of ketchup.  When was he holding that thing?  Where did it even come from?

“bro, don’t’cha think her family would be worried about her?” Sans asked as he looked at his brother.

“I live alone, no one would notice, but…. are you sure that it’s alright? I don’t want to be a bother.  You both have done so much for me already.”  It was true, you were so incredibly thankful, and this offer seemed too good to be true.  You wanted to pinch yourself to be sure you weren’t dreaming but you refrained from doing so.

“IT’S NO PROBLEM AT ALL HUMAN! YOU MAY STAY IN THE GUEST BEDROOM WE HAVE HERE ON THIS FLOOR.  WHAT KIND OF FRIEND WOULD I BE IF I LET YOU LEAVE IN THE CONDITION YOU’RE IN?! THE ANSWER OF COURSE WOULD BE A TERRIBLE FRIEND, AND I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM A MASTER AT FRIENDSHIP!” Papyrus said passionately.  You turned your gaze to Sans, since you wanted to be sure it was okay with him too.

“Are you okay with me staying Sans?  If not, I can go,” you said softly.

Sans was quiet for a few moments, looking back and forth between his brother and you before his eye lights landed on you.  You could almost feel him gazing at your soul, as if he was determining if you were a threat in their house.  After a while, Sans gave a sigh in defeat.

“sure kiddo, you can stay,” he said as he reached down, picking up the ketchup bottle and…. literally took a swig from it. 

“Thank you both! I’ll pay you back when I’m better!” You said as you looked at Papyrus, unable to look at Sans since he literally drank ketchup.  That was really disgusting.

“OF COURSE HUMAN! NOW, LET ME CLEAN UP DINNER AND LET’S GET YOU MOVED INTO THE GUEST BEDROOM!” Papyrus said as he gathered all the dirty dishes and went into the kitchen to clean up.

‘Maybe things are really starting to turn around for me,’ you think to yourself as you smile softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo!! What a crazy chapter! Depression and healing, the reader wasn't expecting all of this. I'm curious what you guys think will happen in the next chapter since it'll be about the living arrangements with the skelebros. A LOT of you want the reader to meet Undyne at the bro's house, but I'm not entirely sure that'll happen yet, but eventually. I promise.If you have any questions, but don't feel like commenting, feel free to message me on tumblr and ask that way. My tumblr is lunamotou.tumblr.com.
> 
> Thanks for reading! :)  
> See you in the next update!


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